MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Director of Athletics Shane Lyons announced the 2019-20 men's and women's swimming and diving schedule on Wednesday.
 
The 2019-20 season is highlighted by the team's first year in the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park, a brand new, state-of-art facility opening later this fall. WVU will host the West Virginia State Games on Nov. 1-2, serving as the inaugural meet in the Mountaineers' new home.
 
In all, WVU is tabbed to host nine meets at the Aquatic Center this season, breaking a program record for home events, which was set by the men's team in the 1985-86 season. The home slate features a trio of conference and national meets as the 2020 Big 12 Championship, the NCAA Last Chance Qualifier and the 2020 NCAA Zone A Diving Championships all come to Morgantown for the first time.
 
"I am very pleased to announce that we are moving into our new home this season," coach Vic Riggs said. "We will be hosting nine home events at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park, starting with the annual West Virginia State Games on Nov. 1-2. In addition to four dual meets, we will be hosting a mid-season invite, the Big 12 Championships, the NCAA Last Chance Qualifier and the Zone A Diving Championships.
 
"We also added some new teams to our schedule, which I am very excited about, with the SMU men and the Penn State women's team. We'll finish our dual-meet season with George Washington on Senior Day. As we continue to move our program forward, adding the CSCAA National Invitational is a great way to give our athletes another postseason championship opportunity in addition to NCAAs."
 
The Mountaineers begin their 2019-20 campaign with the annual Gold-Blue Meet on Saturday, Sept. 28, before traveling to University Park, Pennsylvania, from Oct. 11-12, to open the regular season at Penn State.
 
After a two-week hiatus, WVU returns home to host the inaugural meet in the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park. The ninth annual West Virginia State Games are set to take place from Nov. 1-2, featuring swimming and diving programs from across West Virginia.
 
The first-ever WVU Invitational will be held from Nov. 21-23, with eight swimming and diving programs visiting Morgantown for the three-day meet, including Carnegie Mellon, Kenyon, William & Mary, Villanova, James Madison, UMass, St. Bonaventure and Navy.
 
USA Swimming's U.S. Open is scheduled for Dec. 4-7 in Atlanta, Georgia. Three WVU swimmers, seniors Morgan Bullock and Julia Nilton and sophomore David Dixon, competed at the 2019 Phillips 66 National Championships in July.
 
The Mountaineers are set to ring in the new year with a home meet against rival Pitt on Saturday, Jan. 4. The teams then split as the men travel to SMU on Friday, Jan. 17, before they reunite in Fort Worth, Texas, to take on TCU on Saturday, Jan. 18, for a Big 12 dual meet.
 
Iowa State's women's team visits the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park for another Big 12 meet on Saturday, Jan. 25. The following week, WVU continues its homestand as it hosts Villanova in dual-meet action on Thursday, Jan. 30.
 
Fourteen seniors will be recognized on Saturday, Feb. 1, as the Mountaineers conclude the regular season against George Washington on Senior Day.
 
Postseason competition begins on Wednesday, Feb. 26, as the 2020Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championship comes to Morgantown for the first time in program history. Last season, Dixon won a pair of individual championships in the 100 and 200 butterfly, while the men's team earned a second-place finish and the women finished in third. The conference meet concludes on Feb. 29.
 
WVU will host two more postseason meets as the NCAA Last Chance Meet takes place at the Aquatic Center on March 1, and the NCAA Zone A Diving Championship are scheduled for March 9-11, in Morgantown.
 
The CSCAA National Invitational is tabbed for March 12-14, in Cleveland, Ohio, before the Mountaineers conclude the season at the NCAA Championships. The NCAA Women's Championships commence March 18-21 in Athens, Georgia, while the NCAA Men's Championships are set for the following weekend, March 25-28, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 
The Mountaineers qualified three swimmers to the 2019 NCAA Championships as Jake Armstrong, Bullock and Dixon represented WVU in the national competition last season. 
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUSwimDive on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.